June 2009

June 30, 2009

I made the tote with charm squares and stitched a stitchery design on the front. I also added some ric-rac braid along the top edge.

For the handles, I cut the charm squares into 3.5" widths and joined them together. (That's the strip across the bag front.) I like doing that for bags because it gives a bit of a scrappy look and because I've used the charm squares for the body of the bag, it ties it all together.

The tote is a generous size - 17" x 18".

For the tote, I also added a covered button to fasten it with. I stitched one of the flowers on the button.

I also hand quilted the bag with perle 8 thread with a simple diagonal line through each of the squares. I also hand quilted a cross hatch design on the notebook cover with perle thread as well.

I'm pleased with the finished designs and will be the 'best dressed' person at my next quilting group meeting!

I'm doubly pleased because this was one of the items on my 'hope-to-finish' list for June. Tick another one off!

June 28, 2009

I seem to be enjoying these series of books more and more with each one. The characters seem to be evolving and in each book more is revealed. In this one, Tony's mother makes an appearance. (My reaction was 'Tony's got a mother?') This throws a little bit of light on why Tony is the way he is as he recalls different incidents in his childhood that shaped his personality.

There are 2 completely unrelated crimes in this novel but instead of working together to solve them, Tony and Carol are at odds and seem to be arguing all the way through the story. In the end it's Tony's hunches that lead to the solving of both crimes. He manages to do this despite being laid up in hospital after being attacked by an axe-wielding patient.

As far as his mother goes, Carol saves him from being taken advantage of by his mother's scheming.

As mentioned previously, I enjoy the books more than the tv series but the funny thing is that when I picture Tony in my mind it's as played by Robson Green.

June 25, 2009

This is the covered notebook. It's actually an A5 visual diary rather than a notebook. I use those all the time for drawing up ideas and I also paste into it pieces of fabric I like or pages from magazines.

For this one, I also put a couple of pockets on the inside flap to hold a pen/pencil and eraser.

I had to add some ric-rac braid somewhere so I put it on this over.

I like the stripe fabric on the binding. Gives it a bit more interest.

I'm now working on the tote bag.

Granny squares finished....

One of the projects on my June 'finishes' list was to finish up the granny squares so that I would have enough to make a rug.

I can tick that project off my list.

Last night when I was watching Queensland win the State of Origin (go the Maroons), I finished up the last squares.

This is what they look like piled up - don't they look colourful?

I only have to sew them together now and I will have a beautiful afghan rug.

June 23, 2009

I used the stripe fabric as the lining and decided to make it longer than the main piece so that it formed a 'cuff'.

For the twisted cord, I used 2 different DMC threads - one pink and one green. (Twisted cords along with ric-rac braid are my favourite embellishments!)

On the back of the bag, I added a pocket. I'm going to use that to carry a tea bag. I'm a bit particular about the tea I drink and like different flavours at different times of the day. If you are not a tea drinker, you could also use the pocket for a teaspoon (I'm not so particular about teaspoons).

I added some template plastic to the base of the bag to give it more stability as well.

I think it looks nice so far and have almost finished the notebook as well.

Remembering Adelia...

This is a new book by Kathleen Tracy. I have been slowly making my way through the dolly quilts in her other books and was pleased to see that she brought out a new book.

There are 14 different projects in the book all inspired by a diary that she found in an op shop. The diary was from a young woman named Adelia and was written during the Civil War.

The diary itself really paints a picture of an 'ordinary' life with very few references to the war itself. I found that a bit disappointing at first, but then realised that the fact that it was so 'ordinary' is what made it so interesting. Shows how even in the midst of war, life goes on. It also showed how hard the women worked to keep the household running in those days. A couple of times Adelia spent all day ironing!

The quilts are not just dolly quilts this time but there are large quilts, wallhangings, and of course doll quilts. There's also a diary cover and a 'housewife' needlecase which were made for the soldiers to carry with them. All of the projects are made with reproduction fabrics and are truly beautiful. I've already ticked off a few I want to make.

June 21, 2009

One of the items I listed on my ' hope-to-be finishes' for June is a stitchery design I've been working on. It started as a 'need' I had because since living up here in paradise, I have been attending a couple of groups - knitting and sewing. I found that to go to a group I need a cup (otherwise you have to drink your tea from a disposable cup), a notebook (there's always something you need to write down) and a tote bag (to carry the cup, notebook and something to do).

I decided to make a cup bag (I think I'm the only one in the world who doesn't have one), a covered note book and a tote bag. I'm calling it 'Sewing Group'.

The fabric I chose is this one from Blackbird Designs (I think it's called Beach House?). I was particularly taken by the pretty floral fabric on the top of the pile and also chose the green fabric and a stripe fabric as contrasts and bought the charm squares to use for the tote. The stitchery fabric, is a 'spotty' fabric I bought at one of the craft shows.

I've started on the cup bag and have just finished the stitcheries. I'm going to put one on the front and one on the back. The floral is the main fabric and I'm using the green for the casing and the stripe for the lining.

So far, it's looking really nice.

Hope to have that finished today.

For the drawstring, I'll do my usual with the DMC thread.

Walk in the Garden...

Bev emailed me today because she had just finished stitching a couple of the designs from my Walk in the Garden pattern and combined them with two from Willow Valley Store to make a nice framed stitchery. Check them out on her blog.

June 18, 2009

Well I'm pleased to say that I have finished the second of my June 'finishes'.

The 'Simplify Quilt' is finally finished.

Finished size is 52.5" square and I'm so pleased that it's finally out of my UFO pile. I look at it and wonder why I didn't finish it sooner.

It's a lovely Chook Shed design that was in Patchwork and Quilting magazine a couple of years ago. It started it's life in Jakarta and has now been finished in Brisbane. Some of the fabrics are no longer available and it's nice to have them in a quilt. I always really liked the Chook Shed patterns and my favourite quilts were designed by them. I like that country scrappy look their designs had.

More Granny squares...

Yesterday I went to my knitting group (I wore my new Noro vest I have just finished), and took along my granny squares to crochet. I was so busy chatting with the other ladies that I lost concentration and I ended up doing 2 extra rounds on one of the squares. I looked at it for ages thinking 'there's something wrong with this square' and then I compared it to the rest. Teach me to pay attention to what I'm doing.

June 16, 2009

The latest patterns from Natalie Lymer of Cinderberry Stitches arrived in store yesterday.

This is my favourite. It's called A Mother's Pockets. Each of the pockets has a little baby in it. Isn't it delightful?

I love the 'ladies' that Natalie draws. This one would go perfectly with her Truly Scrumptious quilt too.

This is another wallhanging and is called Creature Comforts.

It again features Natalie's lovely stitchery designs but this time a garden.

I think her stitcheries are really something special and she is so neat.

Spooks shock...

Did you catch up with Spooks last night? I waited all week to see if Adam had actually killed Jo and was so relieved that he didn't. The relief lulled me into a false sense of security because I was totally unprepared for Adam to die. He was blown up by a terrorist bomb last night and it was so unexpected that I was devastated. The final scene was Harry telling Adam's little boy that his Dad was dead. How depressing is that?

June 15, 2009

I took it out on Friday afternoon and was pleased to see that I had done over half of it. I thought it would be a quick job except I ran out of thread and after some searching in my sewing room, I finally found some more monofilament thread but it was a different brand than the other one I was using and for some reason the machine didn't like it at all. It kept on pulling really tight and broke 2 sewing machine needles. I threw that lot away! I was so afraid that if I abandoned it at that point, that the quilt would be a UFO forever, that I dashed down to the shop and bought some more thread. I finished it on Saturday and only had the binding to do.

Binding...

When I make quilts I tend to use the same width bindings - cut 2 1/4" and then folded double. I always keep the left over pieces of binding in a container and for scrappy quilts I just sew the pieces together to make up the binding.

That's what I've done for this quilt. I sewed the binding on yesterday and now only have to hand sew it down.

The other thing to arrive yesterday was a selection of shirting fabrics that I purchased from Patchwork on Stonleigh.

I bought a bundle of 8 fat quarters through the fabric club. I find shirting fabrics are especially useful when making dolly quilts and they are not always easy to find. Whenever I see shirting fabrics in the shop I always buy a fat quarter. You only need a small amount but they can really make a difference to the quilt.

The fabrics here, are a mixture of white based and cream based. When they arrived, I immediately took out my Kathleen Tracy books and started looking at the dolly quilts. I was really tempted to start one but reminded myself that my goal this month is to finish things not start things. Maybe July can be the month of 'fresh starts'.

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